Earlier this month Leap Motion, the company behind the hand-tracking depth senor, revealed they have been working on an augmented reality (AR) head-mounted display (HMD) dubbed Project North Star. This project is aiming to bring the expertise of Leap Motion’s hand-and-finger tracking and integrate it with AR technology and build a seamless HMD that utilizes the latest technology to offer the best hands-free AR experience.
Since the reveal of the Project North Star, the company have continued to share a number of images and videos that explore what they are hoping to achieve with this product. Leap Motion is push the notion that “it’s time to shift the conversation from what an AR system should look like, to what an AR experience should feel like” and with these demonstrations, it is clear that Leap Motion has a clear goal in mind.
In a series of Tweets the company revealed some new work-in-progress demos of possible user interact solutions that could be used with Project North Star and hand-tracking. This includes a number of clips that showcase the hand tracking in motion, with the high response time being impressive to see. Other clips include 3D objects being held, transformed and interacted with within virtual space all thanks to the HMD and the hand tracking technology. The most impressive of which was shown off in a recent Tweet where Leap Motion demonstrated user interfaces that are collapsible.
Another day at the augmented office. Our latest foray into #AR design with #ProjectNorthStar makes your entire world interactive. pic.twitter.com/SB8SNidbCG
— LeapMotion (@LeapMotion) April 24, 2018
By interacting with a small white bar that acts as a spawn location for the interface, it reacts when the user moves their hand towards the interface. This can then be picked up, pulled around, placed both on the surface and in the air and even be interacted with while it is being held. The interfaces appears to have a sense of weight to it as well and still allows for users to pass through them without disturbing there placement.
These prototypes of possible user interface applications for Project North Star are as exciting as they are interesting. As Leap Motion continue to work on the AR HMD and document their journey, VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest, so stay tuned for more.
via Mint VR